This uncanny personage, wearing the semblance of man, came within two paces of Errington before perceiving him; then, stopping short in his headlong career, the creature flourished his torch and uttered a defiant yell.
Philip surveyed him coolly and without alarm, though so weird an object might well have aroused a pardonable distrust, and even timidity.

He saw a misshapen dwarf, not quite four feet high, with large, ungainly limbs out of all proportion to his head, which was small and compact.

His features were of almost feminine fineness, and from under his shaggy brows gleamed a restless pair of large, full, wild blue eyes.

His thick, rough flaxen hair was long and curly, and hung in disordered profusion over his deformed shoulders.

His dress was of reindeer skin, very fancifully cut, and ornamented with beads of different colors,--and twisted about him as though in an effort to be artistic, was a long strip of bright scarlet woollen material, which showed up the extreme pallor and ill-health of the meagre countenance, and the brilliancy of the eyes that now sparkled with rage as they met those of Errington.